1. Value of commentaries in BJS Editor assistant project Olaf Schouten

2. Introduction

4. Methods Commentaries 2010 – 2011, n=81 Articles with commentary 2010-2011, n=80 Citations 2010-2012

5. Percentage of commentaries Ratio of commentaries 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 2010 2011

6. Percentage of commentaries Ratio of commentaries 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 2010 2011

7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 2010 2011 Number of commentaries BJS Annals Archives # commentaries per issue

8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 2010 2011 Number of commentaries BJS Annals Archives # commentaries per issue

9. Commentaries, origin UK35 Netherlands 9 Norway 5 France 4 Germany 4 Italy 4 Switzerland 3 Sweden 2 Denmark 2 Ireland 1 Poland 1 Greece 1 USA 7 Australia 1 Japan 1 Canada 1

10. Articles with a commentary, origin UK24 Netherlands15 France 7 Switzerland 4 Sweden 4 Denmark 4

11. Articles with a commentary Original articles Randomized trials Reviews/meta-analyses

12. Articles with a commentary Upper GI/HPB 31 Colorectal 19 Vascular 7 Breast 5 Endocrine 3 Trauma 2 General 11 Transplantation 3

13. Space used for commentaries Mean 3.3 commentaries/issue 2.3 in 2010, 4.3 in 2011 343 + 78 words per commentary Mean 2.1 page/issue 1.2 in 2010, 3.1 in 2011

14. Example, no extra page

15. Earnshaw Example, 1 extra page

16. Pages per issue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 2010 2011 Pages per issue

17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 2010 2011 Pages per issue

18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 2010 2011 Number of pages BJS Annals Archives Pages per issue

19. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 2010 2011 Number of pages BJS Annals Archives Pages per issue

20. Citations, commentaries 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 2010 2011 Number of citations Citations up to May 2012, based on Web of Science

21. Citations, articles with commentary 2010 Mean6.9 + 6.5 Median4 (IQR 2-13) 2011 Mean2.2 + 2.6 Median1 (IQR 1-3) Citations up to May 2012, based on Web of Science

22. Top 5 cited articles, 2010 4. Similar liver transplantation survival with selected cardiac death donors and brain death donors Dubbeld J.; Hoekstra H.; Farid W.; et al., Volume: 97 Issue: 5 Pages: 744-753 Times Cited: 19 4. Randomized clinical trial of single-incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy versus minilaparoscopic cholecystectomy Lee P-C; Lo C.; Lai P-S; et al. Volume: 97 Issue: 7 Pages: 1007-1012 Times Cited: 19 4. Objective assessment of technical surgical skills van Hove P. D.; Tuijthof G. J. M.; Verdaasdonk E. G. G.; et al. Volume: 97 Issue: 7 Pages: 972-987 Times Cited: 19 13. Critical appraisal of single port access cholecystectomy Allemann P.; Schafer M.; Demartines N. Volume: 97 Issue: 10 Pages: 1476-1480 Times Cited: 17 22. Growth rates of small abdominal aortic aneurysms correlate with clinical events Thompson A. R.; Cooper J. A.; Ashton H. A.; et al. Volume: 97 Issue: 1 Pages: 37-44 Times Cited: 15 Citations up to May 2012, based on Web of Science

23. Top 5 cited articles, 2011 2. Immunonutrition in gastrointestinal surgery Cerantola Y.; Huebner M.; Grass F.; et al. Volume: 98 Issue: 1 Pages: 37-48 Times Cited: 11 5. Multicentre evaluation of intraoperative molecular analysis of sentinel lymph nodes in breast carcinoma Author(s): Snook K. L.; Layer G. T.; Jackson P. A.; et al. Volume: 98 Issue: 4 Pages: 527-535 Times Cited: 9 6. Systematic review of percutaneous catheter drainage as primary treatment for necrotizing pancreatitis van Baal M. C.; van Santvoort H. C.; Bollen T. L.; et al. Volume: 98 Issue: 1 Pages: 18-27 Times Cited: 8 7. Systematic review and meta-analysis of survival following extracorporeal liver support Stutchfield B. M.; Simpson K.; Wigmore S. J. Volume: 98 Issue: 5 Pages: 623-631 Times Cited: 7 7. Randomized clinical trial comparing endovenous laser ablation, radiofrequency ablation, foam sclerotherapy and surgical stripping for great saphenous varicose veins Rasmussen L. H.; Lawaetz M.; Bjoern L.; et al. Volume: 98 Issue: 8 Pages: 1079-1087 Times Cited: 7 Citations up to May 2012, based on Web of Science

24. Conclusion Number of commentaries increased over 2010-2011 Number of pages used per issue now on average 3-4 Commentaries are cited only sporadically Commented papers are cited more frequently than other papers Value of commentaries is difficult to quantify